New Camera Crane Brings Oscar-Winning Engineering to "Miami Vice"

July 25, 2006--Cool cars, high speeds, and precision driving that is so good, it's scary: car chases are often the most memorable parts of action movies, but capturing those scenes on film is easier to watch than to do. An engineer and a camera operator worked together to develop a camera crane system specifically designed to film those scenes. The result caught the attention of the Oscars and was used in the filming of Miami Vice, opening in theaters this Friday.

The Ultimate Arm Camera Crane System was created for specialized vehicle photography such as high-speed car chases, trains, motorcycles, and racetrack scenes. When Ultimate Arm was awarded an Academy Award for Technical Achievement earlier this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences called it a significant improvement in camera car technology that solved many problems inherent in chase vehicle filming.

"The first proper chase scene to be filmed with in-car action rather than blue screens was Bullitt (filmed in 1968)," said Jesse Crosse, a racer and author of "The Greatest Movie Car Chases of All Time." "[Director] Peter Yates had neither the time nor the budget to shoot the scene, so he had cameras simply bolted inside the cars. As a result, some of the footage vibrates. Most technicians would consider that unacceptable today, but I can remember racing a single-seater car where the buffeting my body was getting made my eyeballs vibrate, so the film actually gave you the same effect in real life!"

Camera technologies have come a long way in almost forty years -- from desperate inventions to sophisticated engineering feats. The Ultimate Arm was created by engineer Lev Yevstratov and the design team Leskov in Russia. It was further developed with help from George Peters, who used his expertise as a camera operator and director. The flexible crane is attached to the roof of the camera car -- a Mercedes ML55. Inside the car sits a stunt driver behind the wheel, a camera operator, a grip who controls the crane from inside the car, a focus puller in charge of camera focus and somewhere squished in the back seat is often the director.

"Miami Vice director Michael Mann rode in the car for the two nights we filmed," said Peters. "With all those people inside the car, it is difficult for them to see what is actually being filmed. So, the car is equipped with flat-panel monitors to show everyone inside what the camera is filming."

The Ultimate Arm has many advantages when filming. The system uses a light-weight fiber optic gyroscope to stabilize the crane over just about any terrain. The crane's front is separate from the back, which allows the crane to absorb motion while keeping the camera still. The camera car is made to be operated safely (by a professional stunt driver) at speeds of over 100 mph. Ultimate Arm can sweep around the camera car a full 360 degrees in about 5 seconds. Currently, four Ultimate Arms are in use, but Peters and Yevstratov hope to have six available soon. The Ultimate Arm is not only used to film movies but also car commercials. So, while watching the latest car commercials on TV, most people have already seen Oscar award winning engineering in action.

On the Web:

www.ultimatearm.com

Contact:

George Peters
Camera Operator/Director
Tel: 818-618-9988 (cell), 805-375-1414

Lev Yevstratov
Engineer
Tel: 818-939-8270
ultimatearm@aol.com

Jesse Crosse
Racer/Writer
Author, "The Greatest Movie Car Chases of All Time"
jesse.crosse@btinternet.com

Emilie Lorditch
American Institute of Physics
Tel: 301-209-3029
elorditc@aip.org